PORT ANGELES — The first meeting of a proposed “Friends of the Skate Park” group Thursday night drew about 25 people to the Vern Burton Community Center and produced suggestions for improving the atmosphere and conditions at the new facility at Erickson Park on Race Street.

The suggestions include relocating garbage cans, providing brooms in a secured area, adding bleachers outside the park and painting a line between the areas meant for novice and experienced skateboarders.

Another meeting to further define the group’s purpose will be scheduled within the next two weeks and could include more city officials.

It also will not conflict with major high school events, such as homecoming.

‘An organized voice’

Erik Dukes, a former skateboarder hired by the city as a liaison, said his supervisor, Deputy Recreation Director Bill Sterling, agreed that skaters weren’t responsible for 95 percent of what occurred outside the skate park.

But Dukes told attendees that they can’t deny there’s been an increase in inappropriate activity since the park opened.

The new park needs “an organized voice,” Dukes said.

Accomplishing that might be difficult but it could preserve the park’s future and lead to future improvements, he said.

“The city will listen to an organized group,” Dukes said.